Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli Films

So it's summer and that means spending lots of time indoors watching DVDs (it does?) I don't know much about the works of Miyazaki as I've only seen a bit of Ponyo before (which I enjoyed!), but I feel like now would be a good time to get into them.

Sorry I don't have much to say as I haven't seen any one of his films the whole way through, but discuss your thoughts on them and I'd greatly appreciate it if you voted in the poll :>

These are all really great, so I can't really choose one. I think that the Arietty movie was particularly good. I usually say that Whisper of the Heart is my favorite ~

If you're going to watch some over the summer, I would say that you can pick any randomly. Porco Rosso and Pom Poko are a little less interesting, IMO.

^_^

I enjoy his movies so much. He brings such creavity to them.

The ones that I enjoy and love so much is Howl's Moving Castle. The first ones I 've seen was Kiki's Delivery Service when I was a small kid, use to see so many times. xD
The second was Princess Mononoke great movie too and so much darker and serious than the other ones.
The third was Spirited Away another wonderful one to watch.

It depends on what kind of films you enjoy. Whisper of the Heart is very slice-of-life-ish, but a very good film if you don't hate that kind of thing. My personal favourite of his is Princess Mononoke, which is also probably the closest to a (decent) Western film in style, meaning it feels like there's a villain somewhere even though there isn't.

That's something you might notice once you've seen a few of Miyazaki's films - he doesn't really deal in villains. Nausicaa and Castle in the Sky had outright evil characters, but I don't think any of the others did. That made the ending of Spirited Away feel a little odd to me, but I've gotten used to it now.

While we're here - can anyone tell me a little about Kiki's Delivery Service, Arietty, Ponyo, or Tales from Earthsea without spoiling anything? I think those are the only four Ghibli films I haven't seen yet.

Heh, i own every ghibli film, absolutely stunning movies
my favourite isn't on the list though Whisper of the heart <3

I agree with Tiroth about Ghibli in general; and certainly, he's right about Whisper of the Heart. I think that anime is based on a girls manga (shoujo).

Originally Posted by Tiroth

While we're here - can anyone tell me a little about Kiki's Delivery Service, Arietty, Ponyo, or Tales from Earthsea without spoiling anything? I think those are the only four Ghibli films I haven't seen yet.

Kiki's Delivery Service is a witch coming-of-age story. I would call it a "family film." It's really cute. To tell more would be to spoil it, I think.

Arietty is a "Borrowers" story. That is, about the little people that live in the walls and floors of human homes. I would lump it with My Neighbor Totoro and Whisper of the Heart in terms of degree of "slice of life." Even though it's fantasy type fiction, it's not truly an adventure story in my opinion.

Ponyo is a "Little Mermaid" story, but told in a unique way ~ the Ghilbi way. I thought it was very similar to My Neighbor Totoro in the storytelling.

Tales of Earthsea kind of mix up the original Ursula LeGuin stories (they're very different in tone, to be honest). It looks like Ghilbi but it doesn't feel exactly like Ghibli; there are moments that are much more "mainstream anime," maybe? Ah. As you pointed out, Ghibli rarely has a "true villain." But in Tales of Earthsea, there's certainly a baddie that has no redeeming qualities. This one may have had much less of Miyazaki's (the elder) hand.

The original Earthsea stories are about wizards and magic mostly.

What do you guys mean by "slice of life"? And I think I might try Princess Mononoke first

Slice of life... ah, like stories of regular people? As opposed to a character who is a superhero or warrior or prince or... well, maybe that makes sense?

^^

I love movies from Studio Ghibli.

I think my favorite is Princess Mononoke, but I'm very fond of most of them. I also love Whisper of the Heart, I can't really explain why. Kiki's Delivery Service also has a special sort of charm.

Only Yesterday is a hidden pearl if you like that kind of movies. It's very down-to-earth and quite magnificent in my opinion (be sure to watch the end credits).

Arrietty was beautiful. The Cat Returns is perhaps the most humorous. Laputa and Nausicaa are entertaining. Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited away are magical in their own way. Tales from Earthsea has an amazing soundtrack among many other things. Ponyo and My Neighbor Totoro are fun as well.

I didn't find Ocean Waves nor Pom Poko very interesting. Grave of the Fireflies wasn't really my kind of movie either.

Edit:
Also. No dubbing for me :p

I owned Grave of the Fireflies, but after I read the back of the box, I refused to watch it. To this day I haven't seen it. Probably sold it at some point...

In the dozens of Miyazaki/Ghibli threads that have been made over the years, my reply has never changed:

I've only seen Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. I love both of them, and Spirited Away is probably one of my favourite movies ever.

Grave of the Fireflies has been described as 'the best film I never want to see again', and with good reason. It is somewhat depressing, more so if you're the kind of person who gets emotional during a film (I'm not, but I still needed something a lot more upbeat to cheer myself up afterwards). And just to drive the point home for anyone who wants to watch it, both of the main characters (who are children) die.

Also, that wasn't a spoiler. You see it happen in the first five minutes. The rest of the film is a 'how we got here' situation.

Jehanne - thanks for the overviews. ^_^ I think I might try and find Kiki's Delivery Service next.

I am gonna watch from up on poppy hill soon and I am looking really forward to it. So far I love all of his movies, especially howl, kiki and laputa (castle in the sky). Most of the music is also awesome and the dubs arent too shabby most of the time (what did they do with the ending of laputa, really... '=_=)

Howl's Moving Castle for me! There was so much depth and everything about it was enchanting. I also love the book a lot. I think my second favourite would have to be Spirited Away even though I haven't watched it in a while. Guess I better do that this summer!

I originally had this huge post talking about my opinions on the films, but then Google Chrome crashed. So, to make this post concise, Laputa and Spirited Away are my favorite Studio Ghibli films. I don't think Studio Ghibli have ever had a "bad" film, or an "okay" film. Granted I haven't seen Tales from Earthsea.

Now I wanna vote on From up on Poppy Hill, but I can't. Yet another amazing movie. Will Miyazaki ever go wrong?

Kiki's Delivery Service is my favourite. It's got a charm that the other ones didn't have.
The closest to it would be Whisper of the Heart, and that's why it's my second favourite.

Aside from the very nice feel to the movie, and the pleasant and simple story, I really loved the actors in it. I've always been a big fan of Phil Hartman, and Kirsten Dunst, so that also helped make the movie a little more enjoyable.

But I just saw Whisper of the Heart for the first time just a few days ago, and I loved it.
Spirited Away is the easiest one to re-watch though.

And I think i'm alone when I say i didn't really like Mononoke. And it was my first Miyazaki film too. Haha

Originally Posted by Jehanne

I owned Grave of the Fireflies, but after I read the back of the box, I refused to watch it. To this day I haven't seen it. Probably sold it at some point...

You...should at least see it once. Its an EXCELLENT movie. But..i dont know if i'd ever own it because its one of those films...you know, one of those movies you watch once and never forget. Its too hard to watch it more than once because that movie is ♥♥♥♥ing hard to watch! Its so heart wrenching and so....defeatist and depressing. I saw it once. It came on a premium channel several years ago (right after we got DVR) and we DVR'd it. One day my mum and i sat and watched it together. The premise made her rather curious so she was all "hmmm..." She sat through the whole thing with me...She was like "....*gasp*....omg....this is....a cartoon?! What...oh my----*sob*" We both ended up staring rather dumbfounded as the film ended. Dumbfounded and with tears in our eyes. It was ♥♥♥♥ing wonderful but so so sad.... She never forgot that movie. She didnt remember its name now, but when i say "that one anime with the kids in wartime Japan" she goes "omg...."

So yeah. Its worth seeing once and if you dont cry...You have no soul!!!

Miyazaki films are really the only anime i give any ♥♥♥♥s about these days. Those films are glorious and just beautiful. Every one of them ive seen were gorgeous.

My favorite was Spirited Away. Chihiro reminded me of myself as a youngun. How she was a bit of a whiner and junk and goes on a magical quest of sorts that gives her a new outlook on life and realizes true friendship. I just...saw myself in that film! Plus just how it looks...everything about it is amazing.

I love Princess Mononoke too. Its not my absolute favorite but its great.

Howl's Moving Castle is another one where i was reminded of myself. Sophie was like...yeah there was a bit of me in there.

I saw Porco Rosso, The Cat Returns, Nausicaa, Ponyo, Secret World Of Arrietty, and...Grave of the Fireflies.

Also. No dubbing for me :p

O___o why? The english dubs of most Studio Ghibli films are incredible!

Oh god I love me some Ghibli films. I think Princess Mononoke is probably my all time favorite, but the rest of the films I've seen are great. I've heard Howl's Moving Castle gets a lot of flak for not staying 100% true to the book but I still thought it was a fantastic movie.

My first Miyazaki movie was My Neighbor Totoro when I was young. I had no idea what it was or what was going on, but I had a lot of fun with it.



Y'know what, I actually think I still haven't seen Spirited Away.

Originally Posted by Boltasar

Now I wanna vote on From up on Poppy Hill, but I can't. Yet another amazing movie. Will Miyazaki ever go wrong?

The day Miyazaki retires will be a sad day in the anime world.